Together in Tokyo
by PrisonerPadfoot
Summary: Kagome is trying to make a new life for herself. She moves away from the well, the gateway to the world she can never return to, in hopes of escaping the past. But the past can never really be forgotten, especially where a handsome stranger is concerned.
1. A New Life

The apartment was littered with boxes. Open boxes, and empty boxes. Boxes of clothes, dishes, books and bedding.

There was still a lot of unpacking to do, but if she had to rummage through one more of those boxes Kagome thought she would go insane. For days now she had come home after working her new job and spent the wee hours of the morning stacking dishes into the cupboard and hanging up her rumpled clothes. Her days off were spent shopping for cheap furniture and trying to fill the fridge on her meager budget.

She was finally living away from her family, but she was not alone. Half of the boxes belonged to Yuka, her dear friend who was now her roommate.

Kagome's life was very different from what it had once been. She was no longer a fifteen-year-old girl that split her time between the past and the future. She twenty-three and working nights as a sous-chef in a Tokyo restaurant, living with her best friend in Tama New Town. The rent was high and her salary was modest, but with Yuka to help her she would manage. She had to.

She had lived at home long enough. She had gone eight years with that dead well mocking her from the shrine house. Every time she thought about what could have been, she could hear the well laugh at her. Living at home with the shrine lingering just outside her window had begun to drive her out of her mind. As long as she lived in that house, she knew she could never move on. Moving out was her new start at life, a welcome, much needed change.

Kagome sat on the balcony in nothing but a halter top and shorts, enjoying the warm summer night. It was one of her few days off and she had slept the day away, even though she had not intended to.

The scene she looked out upon was shrouded in twilight, the sky in beautiful shades of red and gold. She looked out past the winding, hilly streets, over the roofs of apartment buildings, small shops and houses, across the river and over Tokyo.

Somehow the sight of that bustling city gave her hope. She was living in the largest housing development in Japan. She would meet new people and make new friends, and life would go on. Or so she hoped.

Kagome couldn't help but think about the fact that she was the only person alive who could remember when Tokyo had been nothing but a little fishing village. She would have to teach herself to forget. She wasn't living in the past anymore.

Kagome sighed as the apartment door opened. She turned to watch Yuka stumble in. She was still in her scrubs, and her arms were filled with shopping bags.

"Kagome, I'm home!" Yuka said musically, closing the door with her foot.

"Need any help?" Kagome asked, watching as Yuka struggled to get all the bags on the counter.

"No, I'm fine! How much unpacking did you get done?" Yuka said.

"None," Kagome sighed, "I was so tired I didn't wake up until five minutes ago."

"Oh," Yuka said, and gave a shrug. She skipped over and knelt down beside Kagome.

"Look at that view. Awesome, isn't it?" Yuka asked.

"Yep," Kagome agreed listlessly.

Yuka giggled, and Kagome was startled as she was taken into a tight embrace. Yuka's hug was so intense Kagome began to feel an unpleasant pressure behind her eyeballs.

"I'm so glad we're roommates!" Yuka said enthusiastically.

Kagome took a deep breath as Yuka released her just before her lungs threatened to collapse. Yuka clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Oh! And you wouldn't believe the guy I saw on the way to the market!" she nearly screamed.

"Yeah?" Kagome asked, trying to sound interested.

"I tell you, he was gorgeous. Long black hair…"

Yuka continued to talk, but Kagome quickly stopped listening. Yuka's babbling became background noise, and Kagome barely registered when her description of the guy she met came to an end.

"Sounds handsome," Kagome said, though she hadn't really heard any of it.

"Gorgeous," Yuka swooned, "But a little shy. I said hello to him and he just kept walking. Didn't say anything."

Kagome snorted. Sometimes Yuka could be so naïve. "Sure he was shy and not just rude?"

Yuka's eyes widened a little. "I dunno," she shrugged. " But with guys like him walking around here, maybe you'll find someone you like."

"Yuka," Kagome grimaced.

"What?" Yuka said, jumping to her feet. "You're single! I know your thing with Hojo ended badly, but you gotta get over it! I swear, that jerk from middle school dumping you must have stunted your relationship growth. You need to find someone who sees how awesome you are."

Kagome looked away so Yuka couldn't see as she rolled her eyes. That jerk from middle school hadn't dumped her. The well had simply separated them into two different parts of history. After Inuyasha, Kagome's love life had been a horrible mishmash of bad dates, fleeting relationships, and a single broken heart. She and Hojo had dated for nearly a year before Kagome broke it off. Poor Hojo had been crushed, but for Kagome the feeling of being single again was a bit of a relief.

Kagome was ready to make some new friends in her new life, but she wasn't sure if she wanted anything romantic. Trying to get their finances straightened out and settling into her new job and sleep pattern was stressful enough.

"Yeah, I'm awesome all right," Kagome said weakly.

Awesomely weird, a little voice in her head said, and Kagome scoffed. As usual, Yuka didn't catch on to her sarcasm.

"That's the spirit! Come on, let's have dinner and we can unpack some more," Yuka said, and dashed off into the kitchen.

They made quick work of eating, leaving all the dirty dishes piled up in the sink. Afterwards, Kagome stumbled off into the bathroom. She opened all of the cabinets, the closet, and the medicine cabinet, but couldn't find what she needed. Kagome went into Yuka's room and found her collapsed onto her bare mattress and wearing nothing but her underwear.

"Yuka, did you buy toothpaste?" Kagome asked. Yuka groaned and cracked open an eye.

"Whoops," she said weakly, "No. I think I might have forgotten toilet paper, too."

"Great," Kagome sighed. "I'll be back."

"'Kay," Yuka said, and was snoring before Kagome even left the room.

Grabbing her leys and purse, Kagome threw on slightly more presentable attire and left the apartment for the first time that day. She took the stairs down to the first floor and stepped out into the warm night air. It was a long walk to get where she was going, but the streets were quiet. She walked through the courtyard of a neighboring building, past residential houses and across a wide strip of road. Cutting through a few narrow side streets brought her to small row of shops and convenience stores.

She went into one of the stores and came out with more than she went in for, two heavy bags of toothpaste, soap, toilet paper and shampoo and other things she couldn't remember seeing in the bathroom. Sometimes Yuka was useless when it came it buying practical things.

She cursed as the handle of one of the bags slipped from fingers and a container of shampoo went rolling down the sidewalk. It ran into the base of a streetlight and came to a stop, and Kagome went trudging after it. She bent to pick it up, and she did so a little flash of light caught her eye.

There was a man standing in the stairwell of the apartment complex across the street, a lit cigarette held between his fingers. He took a drag on it, and the end flared a bright red. He was standing shirtless beneath a yellowy outdoor light, placing his deeply set eyes into shadow. Kagome raised her hand to him in greeting. He retreated in a swish of long ebony hair, up the stairs and out of sight.

Shy or rude? Kagome laughed and sighed. "I hope all my neighbors are that friendly."

She dumped the shampoo back into her bag and continued on her way home.


	2. Midnight Train

**This chapter was written for a word prompt dokuga_contest on LJ. It's #59 Spank, 400 words.  
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Kagome took the train home from work and _he _was there.

He sat across from her with his nose in a book, his hair falling around his face in dark curtains.

The train hissed to a stop, and a few people came aboard. Kagome was a little less than thrilled when one of them sat down next to her. There were plenty of seats left on the train, yet this man insisted on sitting so close that Kagome became a bit uncomfortable. She scooted away, and as she did so he sighed. Kagome could smell the alcohol on him. She could feel his eyes on her.

"I'd spank that," he muttered, and Kagome hoped she had misheard him.

"Excuse me?"

His hand reached for her and Kagome shrank away for him. His fingers brushed against her leg. She balled her fist, but before she could try to slug him, he was flailing around and gasping for air. The man that had been sitting across from her had the drunk's throat in a vice, and Kagome saw his eyes for the first time. They were a beautiful brown, but they weren't the most striking thing about him.

It was the power Kagome felt coming from him, a deep vibration that rattled her bones.

At the next stop, three people got on but only one person got off. The drunken man was pushed from the train, and Kagome looked out the window to see him land on the platform.

The man who saved her sat back down and picked up his book.

"Thank you," Kagome said, and he said nothing. "You don't talk much, do you?"

He didn't answer.

At the next stop she followed him off the train. They walked in silence to the row of shops where she had first seen him, and when he turned down the street to his complex, she put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Who are you?"

He didn't turn around.

"No one," he said, and his voice sent a chill down her spine. It was deep, smooth, and familiar somehow, though she couldn't quite place it.

He continued down the street, and there was a flash of fire as he lit a cigarette. Kagome watched as he disappeared into his building, and she knew it wouldn't be the last time they met. She wanted to know just who, and _what_, he was.


	3. Shut Out

**This chapter was written for dokuga_contest's Glue prompt, 200 words.  
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Kagome let her curiosity get the best of her. One afternoon before she went to work, she climbed the stairs of his apartment complex and let herself in.

It was by dumb luck that she spotted him in the second floor hallway just as he was getting home. She approached him as he juggled his groceries and keys.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Katsuo Oshiro," he said simply, shoving his key into the lock.

"You're a youkai."

They looked at each other for an awkward moment, neither of their set expressions faltering. He was the first to turn away, quickly turning his key and unlocking the door.

"I don't have time for this," he said and pushed the door open.

Kagome stretched her arm across the doorway, blocking his path. "I'm not leaving," she said resolutely.

He raised an eyebrow. "You always were a stubborn little miko," he growled.

Something inhuman danced across his brown eyes.

Recognition hit her full on. Her arm fell limp out of his path. Her lips glued themselves together, keeping her from speaking his name. She didn't know what to say until it was too late.

"Wait-!"

The apartment door slammed heavily in Kagome's face.


	4. Chopstick

**This chapter was written for dokuga_contest's Fling prompt, 300 words.  
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She managed to stay away from him for a week, but she couldn't seem to get him out of her head. She wanted to start her life anew, but it seemed like an impossible task with him living a few blocks away. She passed his building everyday coming home from work. She couldn't forget about him no matter how hard she tried.

She prodded a piece of broccoli and felt something graze across her forehead, followed by a clicking sound. She looked down to find a chopstick laying on the kitchen floor. Kagome looked at Yuka, who was trying not to giggle.

"What was that for?" Kagome asked, making sure no food had gotten into her hair.

"I must have said your name ten times, Kagome. I needed to get your attention somehow," Yuka said.

"And flinging a chopstick at me is how to do it?"

"Yep," Yuka said. "What are you thinking about anyway?"

"The guy on the train…" Kagome sighed.

"You're an idiot," Yuka said, and Kagome stared at her.

"What?" she asked indignantly.

"You didn't ask him on a date," Yuka said, pointing her remaining chopstick at Kagome. "You're stupid."

She had told Yuka about the incident on the train, but she hadn't told her about him slamming a door in her face. Yuka's attitude would have been different had she known _that _little detail. Among other little details.

"You said you know where he lives. Visit him! Then bring him home, 'cause I want to see him," Yuka said, with a wink.

Kagome groaned. She was loath to the idea, but she knew that was exactly what she was going to do. Again. Minus the taking him home part.

"I guess I could," Kagome said, and nearly fell out of her chair at Yuka's excited squeal.


	5. Casualties

**This chapter was written for #62, Sport. 400 words.  
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_In his youth he had killed for the mere sport of it. Now, he was tired of the blood, the suffering, the deaths. Every time his blade claimed another demon, he felt one step closer to his own demise._

_The battle was over and for much of his army, so was the war. He had never seen so many lives claimed in a single battle. He himself had suffered many wounds, but he was the only man left standing on the battlefield._

_He walked through the clusters of corpses, looking for his best soldiers. He hoped that he would find them still standing, but it was not to be._

_His two friends lay side by side. It seemed that only the elder of the two, his second in command, was breathing._

_He dragged his second in command a short distance and propped him up against the trunk of a tree. A swift smack to the face made his eyes spring open._

_His soldier looked at him for a moment before lashing out and clutching the white silk of his sleeve._

_"Listen to me ya bastard," his soldier wheezed. "You better not fucking die like me, okay? You got a job to do for me."_

_Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow for him to continue. He did, slowly._

_"You gotta live until Edo grows into Tokyo, then you're gonna find Kagome, got it?"_

_"The miko?"_

_"Yeah," he growled. "You're gonna protect her, and you're gonna let her know what happened to all of us."_

_"Why should she be any concern of mine?"_

_"'Cause she's _**my** _concern, and I'm your fuckin' second in command. You owe me this before I die. __Where's the kid?"_

_"He's dead," Sesshoumaru said._

_"Aww fuck," he moaned and toppled over onto his side. "So, you promise?"_

_"Yes," Sesshoumaru said reluctantly._

_"Good," he said and sighed. His claws probed the gaping hole in his middle. "What a way to go."_

_Sesshoumaru sat down at his soldier's side. He watched light leave his eyes, listened to the steady slowing of his heart. He was dead before sunset._

_It was a shame that through battle they had come to respect each other, and through the same conflict one of their lives was lost. Even the boy's death left Sesshoumaru feeling strangely hollow._

_It would not be easy to relive this bleak moment, neither for him, nor for the miko. _


	6. Bark

**Written for dokuga_contest's #63, Strain 100 words. yes, these are drabble chapters. Sorry! :) There will be a long one-shot chapter coming up soon, I promise.**

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Kagome stopped with her fist poised in front of her. Why was she doing this to herself? She wanted to move forward with her life. Now it seemed she was doing the exact opposite.

Trying to forget about him was futile. She knew she would never get past his presence here in the Modern Era unless she confronted him properly. Discovering Sesshoumaru had put more strain on her life than she expected, and she was ready to absolve herself of the anxiety.

Kagome swallowed her apprehension and knocked on his door, only to be greeted by loud barking from within.


	7. Rude Awakening

**Written for dokuga_contest's #64, Trade 200 words.  
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Sesshoumaru awoke to a knocking at his door and someone yelling his name.

"Katsuo!"

It was her voice, and as her knocking stopped he could hear her whisper. "Sesshoumaru…"

No one had called him by that name in four-hundred years. He did not even think of himself by that name anymore. Over the years he had traded his given name for countless aliases. He had surrendered his true form for this mundane human guise.

Hell, he hardly even thought of himself as a youkai anymore. To everyone around him he was just another person, another human, living in Tokyo. It felt strange after so many years of hiding his true nature to have someone aware of the power he possessed.

He wanted little to do with the bothersome miko. He was not looking forward to reliving the past with her. To have helped her would have been fine, but protection was not all he had promised. He never broke his promises.

Though she no longer knocked, he could sense her lingering outside his door.

He had procrastinated long enough. It was time to fulfill his promise to his brother. He got out of bed and went to open the door.


	8. Unpleasant Truths

**Written for dokuga_contest's Bed & Breakfast one-shot.  
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To say the moment that passed between them when he opened the door was awkward was a gross understatement. Neither one could find anything to say, and it wasn't until Sesshoumaru simply turned around and went back inside, leaving the door open for her to follow, that they made any progress.

Kagome definitely did not expect the mess she walked into. Whenever she thought of Sesshoumaru she had always pictured clean white silks and elegantly combed hair. She could never imagine him being a slob, but there was no other explanation for what she was seeing.

There were papers and books piled on every available surface. Even the top of the television was stacked high with paperbacks. Huge rolls of parchment were leaning up in one corner, along with a large easel. Splotches of paint graced the tile floor beneath the artwork sitting there. It was a naval scene, a wide open ocean with a battleship and the orange glow of the rising sun in the distance.

Blankets were thrown haphazardly over all the couch. Sitting regally atop of the blanket pile was a huge dog with sleepy eyes. It was a white German Shepherd dog and he huffed slightly as Kagome approached him. Kagome sat down next to the dog, laughing as he nosed at her hand. She patted him on the head and he rolled onto his back and into her lap. He kicked his leg as she scratched his belly, and it as only when Sesshoumaru cleared his throat that she looked back up at him.

Now that she was able to get a good look at him, up close and sans shirt, Sesshoumaru looked like quite the mess himself. Even though it was well into the afternoon, he looked as though he had just rolled out of bed and hadn't eaten breakfast yet. It looked like he hadn't eaten breakfast, or anything else, in quite some time. He was…well, lanky, and it wasn't at all how she had thought he would look like under all that silk and fur. She found herself a bit horrified that the idea of what he looked like under his thick clothes even crossed her mind. She turned away from him and continued petting the Shepherd.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Taka," he said. He sounded annoyed, bored, and completely uninterested.

The whole situation seemed quite surreal. With his aloof glances and quiet arrogance, there was no mistaking that the man in the room with her was Sesshoumaru. But without his markings, his aristocratic clothes and silver hair, she could have walked past him on the street a thousand times and never thought twice about him. She could have spent her life living right across the road from him and never known it, had he not let his youki flare on the train, and if she had seen the shadow if gold behind his brown eyes.

"Sesshoumaru, you really don't want anything to do with me, do you?" she asked.

"Not particularly," he said.

"Then why did you help me on the train?" she asked, an anxious edge cutting into her voice. "Why did you even let me know who you were?"

"I keep my promises," he said simply.

Kagome's brow furrowed. "What?"

She watched as Sesshoumaru drifted away from her. He moved from leaning on the arm of the sofa to stand by the glass doors leading to the balcony. He looked out at the city as he spoke to her.

"After the dark hanyou was gone, the violence did not stop," Sesshoumaru said. "I battled for many years, and I promised two of my soldiers that I would protect you here in this era."

Kagome's hand stilled in the dog's fur. To think that all along he had been in Tokyo, watching over her. A silent protector who had known the course of her life even before she was born. It was hard to fathom that he was still honoring a promise that had probably been made centuries ago.

She was reluctant to ask just who he had made such a promise to, though in her heart she knew it was obvious. The implications of what his promise meant ran through her mind. If he was the only one who could protect her…

They were dead. All of them, and they always had been. Even in their days of battling Naraku they had been dead. Every time she had jumped through the well and gone home, she had leapt into a time where they all had gone to their graves. And even Inuyasha, the only one who could follow her through to the other side, had been walking in a time that wasn't his to see.

Whenever she thought of her friends, she had always remembered them just as they were when she last saw them. Now all she could see was gravestones and dust in the wind.

"What soldiers?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"My brother. And the kitsune, though he was dead before the promise was made."

Kagome gasped, and Sesshoumaru peered over his shoulder at her for only a moment. Inuyasha. She had expected such from him. But Shippo? Her little fox kit couldn't have been a warrior. He was only a child when she left him, so innocent. He could not have aged much in the years she had been away. He must have been barely out of childhood when he had died. Kagome's eyes began to sting with unshed tears.

"Shippo? He fought with you?"

"He was young, but he was tenacious. He insisted."

Kagome's face dropped into her hands, and tears ran through her fingers. Even the cold nose nudging at one of her hands did not bring her out of her silent sobbing.

"They asked one other thing of me," she heard him say, and found the strength to lift her head.

"What?"

"That you would know what happened to them, and all the rest."

"I--I don't know…" Kagome began, but could find no words to say. "Oh God."

He did not seem to notice her distress, or if he did he paid it no mind. She listened with a heavy heart as Inuyasha and Shippo met their deaths all over again in Sesshoumaru's retelling. When he finally left off with the life slowly draining from his brother's eyes, Kagome's sadness had turned into rage.

She was angry. Furious. She jumped off the couch and went to him, placing herself just inches from his back. When he turned around, she found herself toe to toe with him. She couldn't see anything in his eyes. No sadness, no grief, no sense of loss at all. She slapped the scowl right off his face.

He growled, and Kagome took a step away. It was an intimidating sound, not at all human. His hand wandered up to his cheek. Long, elegant fingers tipped in blunt human nails ran over the reddened flesh. She noticed fleetingly that there was a large ring on his finger.

"I keep my promise to the half-breed only to be assaulted by his wench," he hissed.

"You had Tenseiga! You could have saved both of them!"

"It was too late for the boy. When I found him his soul had already been taken," Sesshoumaru said irritably. He moved toward her and Kagome backed away. She found herself caught between him and the side of the couch.

"What about Inuyasha? He was still alive when you found him! Why didn't you save him?"

"So he could live just to die again? To live out the rest of his days with only memories of loss and death? He was only hanyou. He would have never lived to see this era. He would never have seen you again even if I had resurrected him," he said, and he moved to stand by the sliding doors again. His fist came down on the wall beside them, leaving a dent in the plaster. "His heart was dead. He lost you and had nothing left to live for. I understood that, and so did he and Tenseiga. The sword would not have called him back even if I had tried to use it."

Kagome's head began to spin, and she slowly slumped down onto the floor. Taka jumped off the couch and curled up next to her.

"Sometimes I believe he fought at my side only searching for an excuse for death," Sesshoumaru said, and that was when Kagome lost her reserve completely.


	9. Blood Like Water

**Written for dokuga_contest's #67, Mesh. 400 words.  
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Kagome managed to crawl back onto the couch and wrap herself into the comforting mesh of a knit blanket. Sesshoumaru sat down next to her and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. Taka jumped up and sat between them, his tail wagging. Kagome watched Sesshoumaru light up, and after a few moments it became clear that she would have to be the one to start up the conversation again.

In a matter of minutes her heart had already shattered into a thousand pieces, but she knew her heartache was not over quite yet. There were many people whose fates she had yet to know, many people left to mourn.

"What about my human friends? Miroku, Sango?" she asked him, and there was a pregnant pause between them. "Rin?"

He spared her a sideways glance, then puffed a cloud of smoke in her direction. She wrinkled her nose and turned away.

"Youkai wars did not only claim the lives of demons. The taijiya and monk had long lives," he said, and for that at least Kagome was glad. "But my ward was murdered."

Kagome gasped, and immediately clapped her hand over her mouth. She could feel her eyes stinging again. Sesshoumaru's eyes flitted over to her again.

"She was killed out of revenge by a demon whose comrades I had slain," he said. "I made sure he suffered."

The words spilled from him then, slowly and carefully. The only thing betraying his emotion was his hand, which was curled so tightly around the box of cigarettes that its contents were completely crushed. Kagome had no doubt that even after hundreds of years, he was still torn by all that had happened. To hear about all of their deaths was one thing, to have lived through them was something she could hardly fathom.

Tears rolled unheeded and silent down her cheeks.

He let her know that he had made them all suffer. The rogues who murdered Jaken, the beasts who slew Kirara, and bandits who killed Ah-Un and ran off with his scaly pelt. The ambushing bastards that had dealt Kohaku his death blow, and even the cowards that had dared to seek out his mother and behead her.

He searched and killed until they were gone, until every death had gone punished. Blood flowed over his sword like water until there was no blood left to spill.


	10. The Last

**Written for dokuga_contest's #68, Sever. 100 words.  
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"Inuyasha once told me that in this time there would be no youkai. I did not believe him then," Sesshoumaru said.

"Believe it now?"

"Yes," he said. He threw aside a few paperbacks to reveal an ashtray. He put his cigarette out. "I thought he meant to say that humans overcame youkai, but that was not the case. We destroyed each other. And I--" he said, but severed his sentence.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," he said, rising from his place on the couch.

She didn't prod him further. She knew what he meant to say.

_And I am the last one left. _


	11. Alone

**Written for dokuga_contest's #68, Petal. 200 words.  
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The walk home felt like a trek across a thousand treacherous miles.

Sesshoumaru's tales had given her closure, but brought with them a tumult of pain. She felt more alone than she ever had. She felt lost, a delicate petal afloat on a wind scented with blood and death. Yuka, Eri, Ayumi, none of her friends could ever understand the loss she felt. None of them would ever know how she had defied Time to destroy the Shikon no Tama, and how in the end Time had gotten its revenge. Even her own family had failed to completely understand her despair at being shut out from the Sengoku Jidai.

She was the last of the true miko, the last person alive that could remember the Sengoku Jidai. Well, the last _human _who could remember that time, anyway. The Last, just as Sesshoumaru was.

She stopped dead in front of her apartment building, oblivious to the people scuttling past her still form. In her mind she could see Sesshoumaru standing still as the world around him changed, waiting out the years by himself.

A sad little smile touched the corners of her lips, and suddenly she didn't feel quite so alone.


	12. Fetch

**Written for dokuga_contest's #69, Mutual. 400 words.  
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The door was unlocked, almost as if he had been expecting her. Kagome let herself in and was greeted enthusiastically by Taka. The Shepherd leapt off the couch and ran to her, jumping up on his hind legs and placing his paws squarely on her shoulders. She giggled as he licked her face. She scratched him behind the ears before he trotted away, slipping out of the open sliding doors. Kagome followed him and found Sesshoumaru out on the balcony, looking out over the city with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Sesshoumaru?"

He did not answer. Kagome approached him tentatively.

She had spent a lot of time thinking about him. She had thought about all he said, and had mourned her friends until she couldn't find the will to be sad anymore. She realized that she had the strength to move on without forgetting her past. In fact, she intended to help a piece of her past move on with his life.

She was going to live and laugh, and she was taking Sesshoumaru along for the ride whether he liked it or not.

She put her hand on his shoulder, and he grumbled but did not move. Her smallest finger laid atop of his blackened hair, and Kagome hoped she would earn his trust enough to see the silver she had once known.

"Unhand me, miko," he said, without real malice. Kagome let her hand linger for a moment before she pulled away from him. She moved to stand beside him, crossing her arms on the railing. Obviously her desire for his friendship was not yet mutual, but she would change that. He wouldn't stand alone while the world changed around him, and neither would she.

"I'm sorry I slapped you the other day," she said.

"Hnn," he mumbled. She took his mumble as an accepted apology.

Kagome felt something brush against her leg. She look down to find Taka nearly sitting on her feet, his tail wagging. He seemed to smile at her as he panted. A grin tugged at her lips.

"You know," she said, nudging Sesshoumaru's forearm slightly with her elbow. The taiyoukai sidestepped, slowly edging out of her reach. Kagome ignored the gesture. "Taka looks like he wants to play. Does he like playing fetch?"

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow raised at the suggestion, while Taka spun around in circles and barked to give his approval.


	13. A Day at the Park

**Written for dokuga_contest's #70, grip. 200 words.  
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Kagome let the tennis ball fly from her grip, and she watched as Taka bounded across the grass in chase. He caught it on the fly, then sat down and proceeded to rip some of the fuzzy covering off of it.

Instead of calling the dog back, Kagome wandered over to the bench where Sesshoumaru was sitting. She sat down next to him, close enough to make herself approachable, but far enough so not to make him uncomfortable. He hadn't spoken since they left the apartment, even though she had attempted to start a conversation. Perhaps being his friend would take more work than she thought.

She had commented on how nicely Taka was behaving. The dog trotted down the sidewalk alongside Sesshoumaru, keeping in perfect step with his master. He stopped at crosswalks and didn't bark at other dogs, all without wearing a leash. Sesshoumaru simply shrugged.

The thought came to her that perhaps they had some sort of psychic canine bond. Sesshoumaru gave her a strange look as she laughed to herself.

"Sooo…" Kagome said, his eyes wandered slowly over to her. "What do you want to do next?"

"Next?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Kagome nodded. "How about lunch?"


	14. Myths and Legends of Old Japan

**Written for dokuga_contest's oneshot #37, popularity. 850 words.  
**

* * *

Their day of playing with Taka and having lunch together was only the beginning. The miko was spending a lot of time around him.

She began coming to his apartment almost everyday around noon, bringing numerous dogs treats and toys along with her. He would sit on the couch with his laptop and go about his business, and Kagome didn't seem to mind that he barely noticed her. She would splay herself out on the floor and amuse Taka with squeaky toys and games of tug-of-war. Sesshoumaru had to roll his eyes at the beast for acting so complacently. Sometimes Sesshoumaru found himself quite annoyed that he didn't know what that animal was thinking.

Most often Kagome would leave just as night began to set in, saying she was off to work. However, one night she had shown up at his door with bundles of groceries. She had thrust them into his arms and made herself at home in his kitchen. They sat down together to eat, and Sesshoumaru tried to keep from looking impressed. He wondered idly which restaurant she worked at.

She tried to make small talk with him, but he couldn't find much to say to her. He simply shrugged and nodded, giving simple yeses and nos. She didn't seem to mind. They cleaned up the dishes together and she left, leaving him alone for the night. The silence she left behind was oddly disconcerting.

Sesshoumaru sighed and placed his laptop on the coffee table. He got up and went over to the stack of books by the door, picking up the topmost one.

He had taken a number of odd jobs over his many years of dismal human life. He had been a history teacher, a construction worker, even a journalist. Many of his paintings had sold for handsome sums. But none of that meant anything to him.

He flipped idly through the pages of the book. _Myths and Legends of Old Japan_. He had published the book over thirty years ago under the pseudonym Shinobu Nishimura. It had gained considerable popularity among academics, and even now when he rode the train he saw high school students carrying the book back and forth from school each day.

It was filed as a fiction collection, but none of the things in the book were fabricated. None of the bakemono were from his imagination or myth, but from the long ago reality he had once known. The youkai Lord of the West, ever the persistent character in the book, had been real once.

He had filled the pages with his own conquests and the conquests of his father before him. There were also tales of a hanyou and a kitsune, of a demon slayer and a monk, and even stories about a miko in strange clothing. He had written about the days of the Shikon Jewel and times before, but wrote no stories of after Naraku's death. He could not bring himself to revisit those turbulent times. Every time he had tried to put his thoughts together his hands would freeze over the computer keys. He simply couldn't do it. For the time being, those stories would have to go untold.

It had been war, it was inevitable that lives were to be lost. In the beginning it had been army against army, but as the violence continued the visible sides faded away. It became everyone for themselves. It was madness, chaos. He had tried to protect the ones he held close, but he had failed. Rin had died without him by her side. His mother had died alone in her Castle in the Sky. Everyone around him slowly faded away.

The monk and slayer woman had lived, though only barely. They had lived out their days maimed and childless, but they had lived.

After it was all over, after every youkai life was claimed save for his own, he had spent his life waiting for Kagome. There had been horrible, depressing days in his life where the only thing he had to look forward to was meeting her, to keep his promise to his brother. Sometimes the thought of her and been the only thing keeping him alive.

It was for her that he had relinquished his power and adopted his human disguise. If not for her, he might have never integrated himself into society as it was. Almost unconsciously, he swiveled his large ring around on his finger.

To say he wanted nothing to do with her was madness. Who else was there but her? His brother was long dead, as was everyone else he had once known. He and Kagome were all that remained.

She was all he had, and it scared him.

He sat back down on the couch beside Taka, flipping the book on the table beside his computer. Taka woofed softly and Sesshoumaru glanced his way to find the animal with his head cocked. As he panted it seemed that his lips curled up in almost a smile. He nudged at Sesshoumaru's hand with his nose, and Sesshoumaru stopped fiddling with his ring. Sesshoumaru grumbled and stalked off to bed, Taka following quietly on his heels.


	15. Kami's Ring

**Written for dokuga_contest's drabble #71, steam. 400 words.  
**

* * *

"Sesshoumaru, are you home?" Kagome called into the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

A door was open down the hallway, and in the ray of light that spilled out she could see steam swirling out into the hall. He must have been in the shower. Kagome shrugged and diverted into the living room where Taka was waiting for her. He was playing with one of the chew toys she had left for her. When she took a seat on the couch he trotted over and laid the toy in her lap, asking her to play with him. Kagome happily obliged.

Kagome barely noticed when Sesshoumaru entered the room, only glancing his way when she felt his weight set down next to her. Kagome felt her hand go limp around the dog toy. He was sitting next to her with a towel thrown over his wet hair, wearing nothing but a pair of plaid boxer shorts. Kagome looked away and felt her cheeks start to flush red.

_First he would barely talk to me, now he's sitting almost naked on the couch next to me…_

Obviously her constant presence was starting to crack his shell. No one could be so silent and closed off all the time. Though, she hadn't expected to crack his cool façade so thoroughly and so quickly. She had only been worming her way into his life for a few months.

"Something the matter?' he asked. There was barely any emotion to his voice.

Kagome sighed and looked back at him. She smiled. It was progress.

"Nothing," she said. She found herself looking him up and down. Even now it was strange. She still half-expected to see magenta stripes racing across his naked wrists, perhaps even his ankles…

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, and Kagome blushed. She supposed it was as good a time as any to pose a question she had been meaning to ask.

"Sesshoumaru?" she asked, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "How…how do you look human like this? Is it a spell or something?"

"It's the work of a Kami," he answered, more quickly than she expected.

"What do you mean?"

Sesshoumaru displayed the back of his hand to her, and the blue-stoned ring glistened on his finger.

"This ring belongs to a Kami," he said. "It is what allows me to appear this way."

Kagome took his hand and pulled it closer. She ran her thumb over the smooth, round stone. The urge to remove him of the ring became outrageously strong.

"Can you take it off?" she asked. "For me, please?"

He pulled his hand away from her and began twirling the ring around on his finger.

"This ring has not left my finger in almost fifty years," he said, and Kagome's eyes widened. How could he have gone fifty years without seeing himself as he truly was? Kagome felt a lump rise in her throat. She couldn't imagine looking at a stranger's face in the mirror everyday for fifty years.

Kagome's face fell as his hand fell away from his ring. He wasn't going to take it off. Perhaps after fifty years, it would simply be too strange for him.

"How did you get it from the Kami?" she asked.

His eyes met hers for a moment, narrowed and questioning. The last time he had told her of events past she had slapped him in the face.

"You would like to hear the story?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Very well," he said, and Taka curled up at his feet as he told his tale.


	16. A Promise to Be Kept

**Written for dokuga_contest's oneshot #38, rainbow.  
**

* * *

_Two little stones that stood side by side like warriors in combat. Two little stones with the names of the deceased that lay beneath carved upon them with a youkai poison. Two little stones that he had visited every year for the last hundred years. Two little stones buried deep in the forest, protected by a ring of statues honoring the warrior's Kami._

_Most of the fox statues were broken and overturned. The statues had been there long before the graves. Once he stumbled upon the little plot of statues, all in circle and sitting in a small clearing of lush moss, he knew it would be the spot he would lay his comrades to rest. One fox, the largest of the statues, still stood watching over the graves of the fallen demon warriors just as it had stood for a hundred years. Just as it had probably stood for a century or two even before that, yet not a scrap of moss or a single wayward vine marred it. To Sesshoumaru's keen eye, the statue never seemed to decay at all. He was not surprised, considering the aura of holy power that surrounded it. Over the last few years, in which Sesshoumaru had traveled extensively and confirmed his suspicions that he was last of his kind, the power in the statue had only increased. _

_He could feel the power in it swirling anxiously upon his visit this year, so when the statue was consumed by a aura of white light Sesshoumaru did not do so much as bat an eye. The figure crouching upon the head of the statue was incorporeal at first, no more than a transparent outline of a man. As the light dimmed, the person before him solidified, and Sesshoumaru was left face to face with a bearded youth with a cloth sack slung over his broad shoulders. The clothes he wore were something that could be seen on a peasant, but Sesshoumaru knew this man was anything but a poor human. His hair was of the purest white, while his eyes were an unusually potent blue. The aura he exuded was pure and powerful, and Sesshoumaru immediately knew that his own power held no comparison. Sesshoumaru had never encountered anything like it before. _

_Sesshoumaru's hand instinctively went to Bakusaiga's hilt. The white-haired youth waved a hand at him. _

_"Draw not your sword my warrior, I have no ill will against you," the youth chuckled. Sesshoumaru's hand slowly fell away from his weapon. _

_"Who are you?" Sesshoumaru questioned, his eyes narrowed dangerously. _

_"I think you know the answer to that question."_

_Sesshoumaru growled, but the man's smile did not falter. He ran a hand through his beard and laughed again. Sesshoumaru noticed there was a large ring on his finger. The stone reflected the strange color of the man's eyes._

_"I have no business with you," Sesshoumaru said, turning away from him, away from the graves of his brother and the kitsune._

_"Sesshoumaru," the bearded youth said almost musically, shaking his head. "So arrogant, even to a Kami who would assist you."_

_"Assist me?" Sesshoumaru scoffed. "I need help from no one."_

_"I have been keeping watch on you each time you visit here, my warrior. I can see everything that goes through your mind. Those are your friends' graves, are they not? I happen to know that you made a promise to them, and I want to help you keep that promise. It would not be honorable if you didn't do so."_

_Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. He was appalled that the Kami would even insinuate that he would not keep his word, but even more appalled to know that not even his innermost thoughts were secret from the likes of him. He smoothed his expression._

_"You mean to imply that I would not keep my word?"_

_"I did not say that," the Kami chuckled, "I can see from your thoughts that you are honorable. But, given your current state, you will face many obstacles. The world has changed, Sesshoumaru. It is no place for the likes of youkai anymore. It is no place for even a Kami like me. Soon humans will stop believing in us altogether. We are in similar positions, and you are the last of my youkai warriors. That is why I want to help you." _

_"And how do you propose to help me?"_

_"This," the Kami said, and held out his ringed hand to Sesshoumaru. "I can disguise you as a human."_

_It seemed that every statement out of the Kami's mouth was intended to make to him angry. If this man had been anything other than a Kami, Sesshoumaru would have surely lunged at him and drawn his sword over his throat._

_"A human? This Sesshoumaru will never," the taiyoukai nearly snarled._

_"Do you have any other choice? You cannot live among humans peacefully as you are. Stay as you are and you will have no way of getting close to the miko," the Kami reasoned._

_Sesshoumaru was not a fool. The Kami was right. Even in the few times he had come in contact with humans recently, he was not met with the respect and fear he was used to. Humans were more willing to stand against him, to have his head as a souvenir for the last of youkai-kind. They had seen his kind fall, and all of the fear he had commanded in them seemed to fall with it. He refused to spill the blood of such fools. He no longer yearned for the kill like he had as a pup. Taking lives to restore their fear of him seemed pointless. Perhaps in time their fears would resurface on their own, but as the Kami said, it would be more of a horrified disbelief than any real fear. Anywhere he went, whether in the present or in the miko's time, he would be met with some sort of opposition. In that way, his task would not be an easy one. Disguising himself, integrating himself into their world as one of their own, was an adequate plan, however unsavory. And accepting this Kami's aid did not mean there would be no consequence to him._

_Dealing with Kami could not be unlike dealing with demons. The Kami would want something in return. _

_"This deal cannot be without consequence to me," Sesshoumaru said._

_"How insightful of you," the Kami said. "With an aura as strong as yours, the ring will not work. You must relinquish most of your power to me, and so long as you own the ring it will be mine to keep. If you should take the ring off your finger, you will resume your true nature, but your power will not return to you. You must will me to return your power, and when you do, it will be our parting gesture."_

_The Kami slipped the ring from his finger, holding it up into a thin sliver of sunlight. He turned it in his fingers, letting it glisten there for a few moments. _

_"Do you agree?" he asked. _

_Yes, Sesshoumaru thought to himself, and even so the Kami heard his answer. _

_With a delicate flick of his wrist, the Kami tossed the ring to the taiyoukai, who moved to snatch it from the air. As his claws were closing around it, all of his muscles seemed to lock in place. The ring floated just above his palm, and Sesshoumaru was a prisoner in his own immobile body as the ring erupted in a spectrum of light. Red, orange, yellow, a rainbow flashing across his vision, drawing his aura out of his body. He felt hollowed, empty, like a piece of his very being had been torn away. Right before his eyes, his claws were shrinking into blunt human nails. The ring placed itself upon his finger, and all of the colors clouding his vision vanished into it, all except that too vibrant blue. _

_Sesshoumaru fell to his knees under the weight of his own armor. The weight of it was simply too much. He could feel a gathering of demonic power still inside of him, but the Kami had taken much more of him than he had anticipated. He looked at up the smiling Kami and growled, but it sounded strange to his ears. It was too human. He immediately noticed his vision was impaired. Everything looked so dull through human eyes._

_He watched as the Kami pulled out a lock of his own hair, dropping it upon the head of a smaller fox statue. The statue crumbled to reveal a living fox concealed within it. _

_"Remember what I have told you, Sesshoumaru," the Kami said, and in the same flash of white in which he appeared, he was gone. _

_Sesshoumaru took on the task of removing his armor, casting it aside. He kept his swords at his hip. With what little demonic energy he had left, he would still wield them if need be. He ran a hand through his hair, and his fingers came away covered in loose black strands. _

_As Sesshoumaru stepped from the clearing, Inari's fox followed. Many years later as he sat and told this tale, he would not tell the miko of such a thing._


	17. Unexpected

**Written for dokuga_contest's #75, purse. 200 words.  
**

* * *

Kagome felt so conflicted that she had taken her purse into her lap and began nervously fiddling with the clasp.

She tried to remember Sesshoumaru as she had known him. Might, power and majesty wrapped in arrogance, with a small dose of compassion. The man sitting next to her was just a shadow of that taiyoukai. On the train when she had felt his aura flare, she couldn't have imagined the small swell of power was all he would have left.

He had given it all up. All to keep a promise he made to her friends. He had tangled with a Kami for her, and at the very spot where he had laid Inuyasha and Shippo to rest in peace, no less.

She felt like hugging him and crying all at the same time.

Kagome smiled as Taka plopped down at her feet, rolling over onto his belly. He thumped his foot on the floor as she scratched him.

"I wasn't expecting anything like that…" she said weakly.

Sesshoumaru hummed noncommittally and continued swiveling his ring around his finger.

"Would you like to see them?" he asked.

Kagome's brow furrowed. "See what?"

"Their graves. Would you like to visit them?"


	18. Little Red Honda

**Written for dokuga_contest's #76, red. 100 words.  
**

* * *

Sesshoumaru sitting behind the wheel of a little red Honda was something that made Kagome giggle at first. As they drove on, the city dispelled into countryside, and Fuji-san loomed in the distance all the while.

Kagome didn't feel quite as confident as she had before. As they made their way towards Fuji-san she suddenly had a feeling that she knew exactly where they were going. She knew what was at the base of the mountain.

"Aokigahara?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "Tourists will never see where we're going."

Kagome wondered if she was ready for this little hiking trip.

* * *

**A/N: **If you don't know what Aokigahara is, I won't spoil it for you here in case you want to be surprised. But you're free to look it up yourself ;) It's an interesting, albeit a bit disturbing, place. 'Till next week, thanks for reading!


	19. Sea of Trees

**Written for dokuga_contest's #77, crazy. 400 words.  
**

* * *

It was crowded, almost ridiculously so. It was the tail end of August, one of the highest points in the Japanese tourist season, and it seemed that all of Tokyo had flocked to Fuji-san to enjoy the various spas and tea houses that dotted the surrounding countryside. As they got closer to their destination, the drive slowed to an annoying crawl at places. Eventually they made it to their destination, though finding a parking space was a nightmare in and of itself.

Kagome opened the rear door and Taka jumped out of the car. She closed the door as he trotted away, and Kagome found Sesshoumaru disappearing down one of trails already without her. She ran to catch up to him, staying close at his side while Taka moved along in front of them, wagging his tail. She got a strange feeling that he knew exactly where they were going, even though that was ridiculous.

Kagome learned quickly why they called Aokigahara the Sea of Trees. It was the middle of the day, but the covering of trees was so thick that barely any light could reach the forest floor. It was dark, creepy, and it was crazy that she was even doing this.

No, it wasn't crazy. She needed this. It would mean some finality, some closure and reality to Sesshoumaru's stories, and it would give her a chance to pay respect to two of her dearest friends. She didn't know exactly what to feel. She thought maybe she should have been sad, or crying even, but she couldn't find the will to. They had been dead for so long it seemed pointless, futile. It was cliché, but perhaps they really were in a better place than this.

After awhile, they passed by a sign that begged for anyone contemplating suicide to think of their loved ones and to please reconsider. Kagome unconsciously drifted closer to Sesshoumaru. At this point, the number of tourists they passed by on the path began to decline. Eventually they stepped off the path completely, wandering into the brush. Sesshoumaru produced a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit up. He didn't seem to mind as Kagome used his elbow to steady herself as they climbed over some fallen trees.

When she caught sight of a noose hanging from a tree branch, a makeshift thing made from a tacky tie, she shuddered and kept walking on tired feet.


	20. Lost

**Written for dokuga_contest's #82, flute. 300 words.  
**

* * *

Kagome did not like the silence that fell between them. It only made the forest more creepy and ominous than it already was. Perhaps some conversation would take her mind off of the sinking feeling that eventually she was going to trip over some poor soul's forgotten skeleton…

Kagome stepped into stride with Sesshoumaru, wrapping her arm around his.

The only sound was their own soft treads and the beautiful birdsong, hollow woodwind notes that hung eerily in the air, background noises that only made her feel more uneasy. She wished that Sesshoumaru would say something, even though that was ridiculously unlikely. They kept pace behind Taka as he trotted along in front of them, and Kagome tried to think of a good conversation starter in such grim surroundings.

Suddenly Taka came to a halt, the hair on the scruff of his neck bristling. He had stopped panting and cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something only he could hear. His ears swiveled around once, twice, before he bolted off into the trees, catapulting himself over a fallen tree.

"Taka!" Kagome yelled.

"You're wasting your breath," Sesshoumaru said, and at once they were moving forward again. Sesshoumaru did not even bother to look in the direction Taka had gone.

"But Taka! What if he gets lost in the woods?"

"He will do no such thing," Sesshoumaru said flatly.

Kagome stopped dead in her tracks and was forced to release Sesshoumaru's arm as he kept moving without her.

"I know he's a dog, Sesshoumaru, but he's not a dog _demon_," Kagome said. "He can still get lost, and this forest is huge. We'll never find him."

Sesshoumaru stopped and glanced back at her, looking strangely annoyed. "He will not get lost," he said. "This is his forest."


	21. Dead and Buried

**Written for dokuga_contest's #83, bury. 400 words.  
**

* * *

He should have known that saying such a thing would only lead to more questions, things he was not willing to answer. He had done more than kept his promise. She knew what had become of her friends, and he had watched over and protected her for her entire life here in this era. She did not need to know that he had sold his power to a Kami just to keep that promise. He did not need to take her to pay her respects to the hanyou and kitsune, just as she didn't need to know Taka's secrets. It was not honorable to forget a promise made to a fallen comrade, especially a blood-relative, but all of this had not been part of the deal.

He had to ask himself why.

He had procrastinated confronting her for the very fact that the past was not an easy thing for him to relive. He had not visited these graves since that day he had come face to face with a God. From that moment on he had tried to forget about the blood, but now here it was again. He could feel it clinging to his hands, the ghostly lifeblood of all those he could not save. Their lives hung like weights around his neck, making him bow his head.

He had come to realize some time ago that in this day and age, the former miko was all he had. In his long life he had made many acquaintances, business partners and co-workers, but he had never opened up to anyone as much as he had her. She was the only one who could possibly understand what he was, what he had once been, but even still he did not understand his own actions. Why was he letting her so close to him? And why was he opening up to her? She clung to him like a leech in the forest, and he allowed it.

In time she would be just like the rest of them. Still he would remain, decades, perhaps even milennia after she was gone if he so chose. And what then? To him her lifetime was no time at all. There would be no more promises to keep after she was gone. After his reason for living into this era was dead, what would he do?

Burying bodies was easy. Burying the memories of them was not.


	22. Resentment

**Written for...nothing. Just because it needed to be. Sorry for the wait, I was busy w/ school... :)  
**

* * *

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, hoisting herself over a fallen tree. "There's something you're not telling me."

"I have told you everything you need to know," Sesshoumaru replied.

Kagome narrowed her eyes as she fell in step behind him. "But not everything I'd like to know," she said. "I wouldn't keep secrets from you, you know."

Sesshoumaru glanced over his shoulder at her. "You're saying foolish things," he said. "I don't want to hear any of your secrets."

Even after all he had told her, Kagome could not shake the feeling that there was some part of the story that he had left out, one piece of the puzzle that he was unwilling to put in place. It was a puzzle piece she now believed was cut into the shape of a certain breed of white dog. She had never found it odd that Sesshoumaru might keep a pet for a companion. He had kept a dragon, a kappa, and even an orphan girl in his care once upon a time. But know she could not help but wonder just what he had meant. Taka's forest, indeed.

She knew perfectly well that he could be a stubborn bastard when he wanted to, but she couldn't believe that after all these months of holding her hand out to him in friendship he would still keep pieces to himself. There was only one explanation she could think of, and it made her both angry and sad.

Kagome took Sesshoumaru's arm in a vice. He turned to face her and Kagome looked him square in the eye, though with the gold gone and brown there in its place, it was not easy.

"You're angry with me, aren't you?" she asked, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "The story you told me. You gave up your power to disguise yourself. You resent me for it, don't you?"

"Nonsense," he said, pulling harshly out of her grasp. "Such power is useless to me in this era. I am not angry. If I were angry I would not have offered to escort you here."

He turned and started walking again, and it was a few moments before Kagome could follow. It was not the answer she had been expecting, and it took a few moments to process. In her few moments of hesitation, he had managed to put a good distance between them. As she continued to fall further and further behind, eventually Sesshoumaru stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"We are almost there," he said, and they walked on side by side.


	23. Falling

**Written for...nothing. Just because it needed to be.  
**

* * *

Their names were hidden beneath a veil of vines and a layer of creeping moss. She cleared the encroaching plants away to run her fingers over the engraved characters. Tears fell from her eyes, though she couldn't say exactly why she was crying. She wasn't sad exactly, though she could hardly say she was happy about all this. Though she was glad to have her closure and to say the goodbyes she had not had a chance to give before. Sesshoumaru loomed silently behind her, watching as she kneeled down in the bed of moss and spoke to the dead.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go back," Kagome said, one hand placed flat over Inuyasha's stone, the other over Shippo's. "I tried so many times to make the well work again, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't."

By then she was sobbing. She wiped her eyes and looked up into the thick canopy of trees, blinking furiously to keep the tears at bay. She watched the clouds roll by for a few moments before lowering her eyes back to the graves.

"You were the best friends I ever had. And I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye before," she whispered. "So I'll say it now. Goodbye. I'll always remember you. And I'll miss you."

She laid her head down on Inuyasha's stone for a moment before she got back to her feet. She glanced around the small clearing and at all the statues laying about. Foxes, all of them, most of them broken and overturned, fallen guardians of the ancient graves. She then turned to Sesshoumaru, who was standing beside the statue from which Inari had sprung to give him his life as a human. The statue was nothing how the former taiyoukai had described it to her. It was molded and cracked down the center, and one of the fox's ears was missing. There was no aura of holy power around it, and it looked as though if she were to touch the statue it would crumble into dust between her fingers.

"Are you finished?" he asked.

Kagome wiped her eyes again and went over to the once holy statue. She ran her hand down and over the kitsune's paw and the last toe broke off at her touch, landing silently in the moss.

"Let's go," she said, and Sesshoumaru turned and walked away.

She followed closely behind him, keeping her steps in sync with his until she couldn't bear to look at his back anymore. She walked around him and continued on, even though she had no idea where she was going.

She tried to keep her mind clear, but the image of Inuyasha as nothing but a pile of rotting bones kept placing itself into her head. Knowing that she was walking through a veritable graveyard was no comfort either, knowing that there were bones everywhere, the bodies of so many defeated people scattered through the woods…

Kagome's foot caught on something buried beneath the leaves. She broke her fall with her hands, skinning her palm on a rock in the process. She looked back to see what she had tripped on and saw that there was a long bone laying across the arch of her foot. Her eyes followed back to where it buried itself back in the leaves, and she could see light blue denim peeking up through the dead yellows and browns, until she finally saw something that made her scream.

A tattered shirt stretched over decaying skin, scraggly hair invaded by a spider's nest, and empty eyes staring at her from inside a rotting skull. A corpse sitting in the hollow of a tree. She scrambled backwards, her hand coming to close around a thin branch that snapped under weight.

Sesshoumaru met her eyes for a moment before she was sent tumbling head over heels. He was standing still beside the tree and its hidden corpse, and he watched her fall.

She screamed as she tumbled down the hill, her hair being ripped out in clumps as it caught on fallen branches and sticks. Something sharp dug into her leg, and then she hit something very hard and saw a flash of glowing gold. She was caught on her back, her neck lolling backwards against the support gathered at her neck. From her upside-down perspective, she saw it. It was a fox. A white fox with blue eyes, which was strange. Foxes couldn't have blue eyes. Or at least she thought so. She thought she must have been in shock or something. It sure was getting difficult to think straight…

The fox was standing beside a tree only a few yards away, a knarred old thing with a thick trunk that she was going to crash right into once she started rolling again….

She blinked, and the fox was gone.

It was a moment before she realized that she wasn't about to go rolling through the leaves anymore, and that the glow was Sesshoumaru's eyes.

How fast did he have to run to catch her?

It was impossible. She could see his ring on the hand that was supporting her legs, one of which was bleeding at the knee. He had said that his powers weren't strong enough to break through the ring's cloaking magic. She could feel it though, his youki coming off him in a powerful wave, much stronger than what she had felt come from him on the train all those months ago. It pulsed, pulsed, raised the hair on the back of her neck, ebbed, and was gone.

"Your eyes," she said, reaching up and cupping his chin, forcing him to look down at her. His eyes were just a plain brown, and she frowned at him. "They were yellow. I saw it. You said that can't happen unless you take the ring off."

"Don't speak," he said, and Kagome closed her eyes as he lifted her up.

Kagome didn't remember falling asleep, though she must have, because in the next moment they were emerging from the trees and walking across the parking lot to the car. Dusk had just begun to set in and Taka was there waiting for them, sitting beside the car and wagging his tail.


	24. Voices

**Written for...nothing. Just because it needed to be.  
**

* * *

As soon as they had gotten back to his apartment, Kagome had plopped herself down on the couch and settled into a nap she had not intended on taking. When she first heard the voices she thought she must have been falling into a dream. It took a few minutes for her to realize that she was awake, and it was another few moments before she realized that Sesshoumaru wasn't holding a conversation with himself.

She realized that there were in fact two voices, which was strange. Besides herself, she had never seen any other person in his apartment and he had never spoken about having any close friends. He was speaking to someone with a voice much deeper than his own, a voice that Kagome did not recognize.

"I am in deep concern over your behavior," she heard Sesshoumaru say, and the other voice laughed slightly.

Kagome moved ever so slowly beneath her blanket, propping herself up on her elbow just enough so she could see over the arm of the couch. The door to the balcony was open slightly, but the curtains were still drawn. There was still just enough daylight left for her to discern the outlines of two men standing outside, Sesshoumaru with his back straight and arms crossed and a slightly taller figure with his arms dangling casually over the railing.

"My behavior? I don't know what you're talking about," the second voice replied.

"Why now are you bending the rules?" Sesshoumaru growled, and Kagome found herself rising even further off of the couch to listen.

"Perhaps I'm growing soft in my old age," the second voice mused. "As are you, apparently."

"Nonsense."

"You can't say that to me. I know what you're thinking. Besides, you got what you wanted, so why are you griping? I could have easily ignored the situation and your wish…" There was a slight pause and a low, rumbling laugh. "Is your heart at war with your pride even now?"

"Do not speak to me like that," Sesshoumaru hissed.

"Listen to you," the second voice said, and his shadowy outline shook his head and waved a hand to dismiss Sesshoumaru. "Throwing threats at _me_."

Kagome expected Sesshoumaru to retaliate in some way, either verbally or physically, but instead there was silence. The tension between the two men was so thick it was almost palpable, the silence so thick that Kagome was afraid the tiniest breath would expose her eavesdropping. Then the silhouette that was Sesshoumaru turned sharply on his heel and Kagome threw herself back down onto the couch, drawing the blanket up to cover her eyes. She listened to his soft padding steps around the apartment, only daring to move when she heard the opening and closing of the front door.

His shoes were gone from their place beside hers. She threw off her blanket and got to her feet. The second silhouette was still visible behind the balcony curtain. Kagome approached it tentatively. She felt strangely anxious at who, or what, she would find, though she didn't exactly know why. She could feel no aura, demonic or otherwise, but she had a strange feeling that whomever Sesshoumaru had been talking to had also lived through the Feudal Era.

A breeze suddenly blew through the still night, making the curtain flap. When it stilled again the silhouette that had been behind it was gone. With a gasp of surprise, Kagome lunged forward to pull the curtain back and skidded out onto the balcony only to find herself alone. She gazed at Tokyo laid out before her with her mind reeling. She leaned over the railing and looked in all directions, but found no explanation.

She yelped when she felt something brush against her leg. She looked down only to find Taka staring up at her. He nosed at her knee, and she could only look at him with a sort of strange fascination for a moment. With a sigh she bent down to pet him. He hadn't been out on the balcony only a moment ago, and she had not heard the usually clicking of his little dog toenails that usually signaled his approach. He had snuck up on her as quiet as a ghost.

With a sigh, she kneeled down to pet him.

"Good boy," she said, stroking one of his ears. His tongue snaked out to lick her wrist and she giggled. "But I still think there's something weird about you, and I am going to find out what it is."


	25. Call Him

**Written for fanfic_bakeoff on livejournal. Originally posted August 18th, 2010.  
**

* * *

Kagome was amazed at how little there was on television on a Monday night. She flipped through the channels in a daze, not really seeing anything that was flashing by on the screen. She thought her first night off after six straight days of working would be relaxing, but such was not the case. When she was at work she didn't have time for her thoughts to wonder to Sesshoumaru and his oddball dog.

Their trip to Aokigahara was the last time she had seen Sesshoumaru, and that had been quite some time ago. It seemed that since then every time she went to his apartment he was conveniently not at home, and almost never answered his phone. It was seriously impeding her getting to the bottom of the mystery that was Taka, and she had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly Sesshoumaru's intention.

Kagome's daze was broken by Yuka shoving the cordless phone up against her face.

"That's it, you're calling him," Yuka said, wiggling the phone around.

"What?" Kagome asked, confused.

Yuka sighed and tapped her foot in a frustrated rhythm. "Your boyfriend. Your calling him and he's going to take you to dinner. You're not sitting here doing nothing on your day off."

Kagome nearly jumped out of her seat. "Boyfriend? Sess-I mean, Katsuo isn't my boyfriend," she said, settling back onto the couch. She tried her best to ignore Yuka's smug expression.

"Oh, please. Yes, he is. You're always visiting him," Yuka said, sitting down beside her. "And you still haven't let me meet him yet. That must mean you like him a lot, yeah?"

Kagome sighed and looked at the phone as Yuka twirled it around. Eventually, and with much squealing from Yuka, Kagome took the phone and dialed. Hopefully he would answer this time around.


	26. Waiting

**Written for dokuga_contest #101, early. Originally posted August 23rd, 2010.  
**

* * *

Kagome glanced quickly at her watch. It was five minutes to eight, still five minutes too early to start worrying. She stood beneath the neon lights and watched the people go by. People laughing, holding hands, all things somehow made her feel a bit sad.

He had agreed, however reluctantly, to meet her here at eight o'clock. She knew he would come. Sesshoumaru never lied.

Though when he did finally show up, she had no idea what she would say to him. She wanted to get right to the heart of things. She wanted to ask him what he was hiding from her, but starting the night off like that seemed like a very bad idea. She wanted him to be able to trust her. Being so forward would only drive him further away.

She had spent so many long months peeling away the cold outer layers of his heart. So many months of trying to understand the depths of his loss and loneliness. But there was still such a long way to go. Five-hundred years of ice was still inside his heart.

Kagome glanced at her watch again. It was exactly eight o'clock when his hand fell on her shoulder.


End file.
